AT LAST, mainstream politicians have begun to defy the critics by openly countering the negative barrage of information and argument from opponents of the Annan plan. For the last three days, AKEL big guns Andreas Christou and Kikis Kazamias have been blasting away at the dire warnings about the cost of a solution.
The economic aspect was important, Interior Minister Christou said, but could be overcome, as Cyprus had overcome other difficult moments in its history. What’s more, could anyone really justify the argument that reunification could be turned down because it was going to hurt our pockets?
Until now, the desire to preserve a unified political front at such a critical time had effectively given free rein to the most vociferous opponents of the plan who had no such qualms, to the degree that their strident arguments had driven the debate. The only opposing voice came from foreign mediators – whose intervention could be seen as counter-productive – and from fringe politicians on former president Clerides’ negotiating team.
The mediators have warned of apocalyptic consequences of a ‘no’ vote. Their intervention did not go down well; which is why it was important for AKEL to stand up and underline the consequences of a failure to reach a solution. Not the consequences alluded at by diplomats – the risk of partition, recognition of the north, etc. – but the consequences of a continuation of the status quo, seen by many as being preferable to a solution according to the Annan plan.
Had anyone estimated the costs of not solving the Cyprus problem, Christou asked. Well, the University of Cyprus did estimate the cost of continued occupation a few years back and placed it at £4.5 billion for the years 1995-2000 alone.
But Christou and Kazamias also spoke of the social and political cost of failure to reach a solution: refugees remaining refugees, settlers settling in even more, more arriving, a massive occupying army staying in the north.
Time is working against the Greek Cypriots. With every year that passes, more Greek Cypriots who remember the north die, grow old, have less and less of the strength required to rebuild a life in their old villages. People who were 30 in 1974 are 60 today. Ten years down the line they will be 70. Let that sink in. New generations are born for whom our occupied lands mean no more than a faded photograph of Kyrenia harbour in the classroom. New generations of settlers are born in Cyprus, whom it becomes harder and harder to uproot the more the years pass.
Forget the dire threats from the foreigners. Let’s assume (against all odds) that the international community does come back 10, 20 years from now: most of the refugees will have passed away; the solution will mean very little to their children and grandchildren. That is the true cost of not having a solution today. Thank God some politicians have woken up to it.
